This was the blog of a blacksmith.
Soot Happens, but you clean yourself up when you need to (even if it takes years). If you find that life isn't where you want it, just toss it back in the coals, bring it to heat, and reforge.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Baked Scotch Eggs [Paleo Friendly]

Time for another recipe post, this time for baked scotch eggs, one of my favourite paleo-friendly foods. I was initially taught how to make them by Pam Kohler-Camp of And Sarah Laughed Pottery, who is like a second mother to me. They are dead simple to make and can be altered to fit your dietary requirements… maybe… as long as you can still eat eggs, I'm pretty sure you can find vegan sausage out there, but I'm going to stick to meat.One of the things I like best about scotch eggs is that they can be prepared ahead of time, and used as a grab & go food. They are good cold, sometimes they are even better this way than hot, depending on your sausage. Often, I will make a batch of them at the beginning of the week, and keep them in the refrigerator pulling one (or two) out each morning for a mid-day meal. They can be eaten as-is, sliced, or dissected (cut in half, separating each layer). They go excellent with a brown mustard, and maybe with honey as well (though I haven't tried it).
So, what is a scotch egg? At it's most basic, it's a hard boiled egg that's been wrapped in ground sausage, then cooked. You may also notice that I only refer to them as scotch eggs and not Scotch eggs. This is because they aren't Scottish, they're English. Many scotch eggs (including he original) were fried. I bake mine, because a) that's how I was taught, and b) I like the taste of the baked ones better than the fried ones. So this recipe will be for a baked scotch egg, rather than fried. So, here's what you'll need for a batch of 4 scotch eggs.

Scotch (optional)

4 hard boiled eggs, shelled

1lb. ground sausage (pork, venison, turkey, you choice as long as it qualifies as ground sausage)

breadcrumbs (optional)

1 egg (optional, and unnecessary if not using breadcrumbs)

1 baking/roasting rack with drip pan

1 oven

Now, here's what you do.

Pour yourself some scotch (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350°F

Have some scotch — refill if necessary (optional)

Shell your hard boiled eggs (I know it says shelled eggs up there, but it's really important that the hard boiled eggs not have shells on them).

Have some scotch — refill if necessary (optional)

Divide your sausage into fourths, so you have a quarter pound of ground sausage per hard boiled egg.

Have some scotch — refill if necessary (optional)

Wrap each quarter pound of sausage around a hard boiled egg — at this point you have uncooked scotch eggs

Have some scotch — refill if necessary (optional)

If you are going to use breadcrumbs: (optional)

Break the remaining egg into a bowl and beat it (optional)

Lightly coat the outside of the uncooked scotch egg with the beaten egg (optional)L/li>

Roll the scotch egg in the breadcrumbs, coating the outside

Have some scotch — refill if necessary (optional)

Place each uncooked scotch egg on your baking/roasting rack so that they are not touching each other

Have some scotch — refill if necessary (optional)

Place rack with eggs in the oven (ensuring the drip pan is underneath)

Have some scotch — refill if necessary (optional)

Bake for 30-35min and remove the rack from the oven

Have some scotch — refill in necessary (optional)

Let the eggs cool (you can let them cool overnight if you plan to refrigerate)

Have some scotch — refill if necessary (optional)

Now, without the humorous alcohol steps.

Preheat your oven to 350°F

Shell your hard boiled eggs (I know it says shelled eggs up there, but it's really important that the hard boiled eggs not have shells on them).

Divide your sausage into fourths, so you have a quarter pound of ground sausage per hard boiled egg.

Wrap each quarter pound of sausage around a hard boiled egg — at this point you have uncooked scotch eggs

If you are going to use breadcrumbs: (optional)

Break the remaining egg into a bowl and beat it (optional)

Lightly coat the outside of the uncooked scotch egg with the beaten egg (optional)

Roll the scotch egg in the breadcrumbs, coating the outside

Place each uncooked scotch egg on your baking/roasting rack so that they are not touching each other

Place rack with eggs in the oven (ensuring the drip pan is underneath)

Bake for 30-35min and remove the rack from the oven

Let the eggs cool (you can let them cool overnight if you plan to refrigerate

(Note: inclusion of Scotch in scotch egg recipe is for the people who complain that the a recipe for scotch eggs doesn't contain any Scotch. If including the optional Scotch, please drink responsibly, or at least put it on YouTube if you don't.)

As I stated above, this is an easy food to make, it's paleo-friendly (just omit the breadcrumbs), and very, very tasty. After the eggs are cool, you can put them in zip-top bags in your refrigerator for a quick meal/snack ready to go. I do highly recommend trying them with a good brown mustard though. And finally, this scotch egg recipe post would not be complete without a link to Weebl's Scotch Egg animated song!
Enjoy!